Problems associated with liquid wicking out of a catcher are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,411, issued to West et al. on Nov. 8, 2005, discloses a catcher including vacuum channels positioned on both sides of a liquid removal opening, commonly referred to as a throat, of the catcher. The vacuum channels remove accumulated liquid, for example, ink, from a face of the catcher and from a liquid sealing mechanism, commonly referred to as an eyelid. Additionally, a scoop can be located in a catch pan of the catcher to remove liquid accumulated below the catcher face.
A pair of walls can also be positioned on either side of a liquid removal opening of a catcher to reduce liquid wicking out of the catcher. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a drop generator (not shown) of a printhead assembly 34 is operable to create liquid drops 2 in a known manner. Some of the liquid drops 2 are deflected in a known manner toward a contact region 30 of a catcher face 4 of the catcher 32. After the liquid drops 2 impinge the contact region 30 of the catcher face 4, the liquid drops 2 form a liquid film 3 that travels toward a liquid removal opening or throat 5 from which the liquid is removed from the printhead assembly 34 and either recycled or disposed.
An eyelid (not shown) is operatively associated with the catcher to form an eyelid seal 1 with the catcher 32 in order to prevent liquid from contacting a recording media during a start up (and a shut down) sequence. After the start up sequence is complete, the eyelid is positioned away from the catcher 32 to enable liquid drops to pass between the eyelid and the catcher and contact the recording media.
The eyelid includes a pair of walls 36 (only one of which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) positioned on either side of the liquid removal opening 5 of the catcher 32 that contact the catcher 32. The eyelid also includes a lip 38 that contacts the catcher 32 below a catch pan 6 of the catcher 32.
While this solution helps to prevent liquid from leaking from the sides of the catcher and contacting either the recording media or the printer hardware, it does not prevent the liquid from wicking up the face of the catcher toward printer hardware, for example, a charge electrode 7 and its associated circuitry, located above the catcher, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
In FIG. 1, air flow 8 present in the printhead assembly 34 can cause accumulated liquid 9 to wick directly up the catcher face 4 adjacent to each wall 36 where the liquid 9 can make contact with the charge electrode and its associated circuitry. In FIG. 2, accumulated liquid 9 wicks up the catcher face 4 adjacent to each wall 36 but does not directly contact the charge electrode 7 and its associated circuitry. Instead, the liquid 9 wicks inward toward the charge electrode 7 and its associated circuitry after wicking up the catcher face 4 because the pair of walls 36 is positioned closer to liquid removal opening 5 in FIG. 1 as compared to the wall 36 position shown in FIG. 2. In either case, a printhead assembly 34 operational failure can occur.
As such, there is a need to reduce or even prevent liquid from wicking up the catcher face.